All Because of a Mormon Cow: Historical Accounts of the Grattan Massacre, 1854–1855

241 Pages·2018·16.171 MB·English

by  John D. McDermott, R. Eli Paul, Sandra J. Lowry

A L L B E C A U S E
O F A
M O R M O N C OW
Historical Accounts of the
Grattan Massacre, 1854–1855
EDITED BY
John D. McDermott, R. Eli Paul,
and Sandra J. Lowry
ALL BECAUSE OF A MORMON COW

A L L B E C A U S E
O F A
M O R M O N C O W
Historical Accounts of the
Grattan Massacre, 1854–1855
EDITED BY
John D. McDermott, R. Eli Paul,
and Sandra J. Lowry
UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA PRESS : NORMAN
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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Contents
List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
Editorial Procedures . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Introduction: The Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
August 20–September 20, 1854
1. Hugh B. Fleming, army officer, August 20, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 33
2. Hugh B. Fleming, army officer, August 20, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 33
3. Lewis B. Dougherty, trader, August 20, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
4. Hezekiah Mitchell, Utah emigrant, August 14–21, 1854 . . . . . . .37
5. William Athol MacMaster, Utah emigrant, August 21–23, 1854 . . . 39
6. James Bordeaux, trader, August 21, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
7. “S,” anonymous correspondent, August 26, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 42
8. Lewis B. Dougherty, August 29, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
9. Hugh B. Fleming, August 30, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
10. James Bordeaux, August 31, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
11. Obridge Allen, civilian traveler, late August 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 53
12. Oscar F. Winship, army officer, September 1, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 58
13. James Bordeaux, September 2, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
14. Edward Claudey et al., traders, September 1, 1854 . . . . . . . . . .66
15. Jean Baptiste Moncravie et al., traders, September 1, 1854 . . . . . .66
16. Orville A. Nixon, civilian traveler, September 2–3, 1854 . . . . . . . 67
17. John Jamison, civilian mail carrier, September 3, 1854 . . . . . . . 68
vi CONTENTS
18. Anonymous correspondent, September 5, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . 70
19. Newman S. Clarke, army officer, September 7, 1854 . . . . . . . . . 71
20. John Taylor, Utah official, September 12, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . 72
21. Thomas Sutherland, Utah emigrant, September 12, 1854 . . . . . . 73
22. Sefroy Iott, trader, September 13, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
23. Hugh B. Fleming, September 14, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
24. William Kenceleur, trader, before September 16, 1854 . . . . . . . . 78
25. Fort Laramie Orders, September 18, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
26. Ezra T. Benson, Utah official, September 20, 1854 . . . . . . . . . .80
Interlude: Recording the Story . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 81
September 27, 1854–October 10, 1855
27. Oscar F. Winship, September 27, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
28. John Wilkins Whitfield, Indian agent, September 27, 1854 . . . . . 97
29. Thomas Lorenzo Obray, Utah emigrant, September 28, 1854 . . . 98
30. E dward J. Steptoe, army officer, from J. H. Reid [Reed],
a “gentleman,” September 29, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
31. William Vaux, army chaplain, October 1, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
32. John W. Whitfield, October 2, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
33. P aul Carrey, civilian traveler, from “ten Canadians,”
October 2, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
34. A . J. Smith, F. E. Welch, and J. H. Steinberger,
civilian travelers, October 3, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108
35. Newman S. Clarke, October 5, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110
36. Christian J. Larsen, Utah emigrant, October 5, 1854 . . . . . . . . 112
37. J ohn Taylor and Nathaniel Henry Felt, Utah officials,
October 6, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112
38. Mr. McConnell, civilian traveler, October 13, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 114
39. Alfred J. Vaughan, Indian agent, October 19, 1854 . . . . . . . . . .115
40. “W,” anonymous correspondent, October 25, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . 118
41. Obridge Allen, November 19, 1854, or before . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
42. J. H. Reed, civilian traveler, November 19, 1854, or before . . . . .126
43. James Bordeaux, November 19, 1854, or before . . . . . . . . . . . 129
CONTENTS vii
44. William Hoffman, army officer, November 19, 1854 . . . . . . . . 132
45. Hugh B. Fleming, November 19, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 134
46. William Hoffman, November 19, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
47. William Scott Ketchum, army officer, November 19, 1854 . . . . . 137
48. Charles E. Galpin, trader, November 20, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . 139
49. Alfred J. Vaughan, Indian agent, November 21, 1854 . . . . . . . 140
50. Anonymous correspondent (J. H. Reed?), November 22, 1854 . . 142
51. William Hoffman, November 29, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 144
52. “M. M. T.,” anonymous correspondent, December 1, 1854 . . . . . 148
53. William Hoffman, December 4, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 152
54. Peter Grattan, father of John Grattan, December 5, 1854 . . . . . . 153
55. Big Partisan, Brulé Lakota leader, December 7, 1854 . . . . . . . . 154
56. Little Thunder, Brulé Lakota leader, December 7, 1854 . . . . . . 156
57. Little Thunder and Big Partisan, December 8, 1854 . . . . . . . . . 158
58. William Hoffman, December 12, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 159
59. C onverse, Mitchell, and Harley, civilian travelers,
December 9, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
60. C harles A. Kinkead and C. L. Barnes, civilian travelers,
December 12, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 162
61. Charles A. Kinkead, December 12, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 163
62. W illiam M. F. Magraw, civilian traveler,
before February 3, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165
63. M an Afraid of His Horses, Oglala Lakota leader,
February 13, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 167
64. Fort Laramie Orders, February 17, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173
65. John W. Whitfield, March 1, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 174
66. “O-yoke-e-se-cha,” March 12, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 178
67. Anonymous soldier at Fort Laramie, March 12, 1855 . . . . . . . . 182
68. John Didier, trader, March 13, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 183
69. Thomas S. Williams, civilian traveler, May 10, 1855 . . . . . . . . . 185
70. Charles E. Galpin, May 19, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 186
71. Alden Sargent, army officer, May 25, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
72. Charles Page, army surgeon, May 28, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 187
viii CONTENTS
73. John T. Shaaf, army officer, May 29, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
74. Ed Johnson, army officer, May 31, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
75. William Hoffman, June 10, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190
76. John Didier, August 3, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 191
77. Mr. Laframbeau, interpreter, August 31, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
78. William Vaux, October 4, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 193
79. War Department Report, October 5, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194
80. Ed Johnson, October 10, 1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 195
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213
Illustrations
Figures
Fort Laramie, 1854 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
James Bordeaux, Indian trader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Man Afraid of His Horses and James Bordeaux, 1868 . . . . . . . . . . 86
Sefroy Iott, Indian trader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
John Whitfield, Indian agent . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86
Spotted Tail, Brulé Lakota leader . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
Mormon pioneers Mitchell, Larsen, MacMaster, and Benson . . . . . . 88
William Hoffman, army officer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89
1889 engraving of the Grattan fight . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Map
Fort Laramie and the West, 1854–1855 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
ix